12 Weeks and E's First Movie

On Thursday I had my 12 week appointment and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! Very fun and exciting! I can't believe I have a little heartbeat inside me right now. I've gotten over the sick phase, I'm not showing at all, and I feel just about normal (except for being tired and frequent bathroom trips) so it's kind of surreal to think that I'm having a baby. So the Dr.'s visit went well and I will be finding out what we're having in about 6 weeks (beginning of May) so I am counting down the days. I can't wait to find out!

After the Dr.'s appointment my mom and I took E to see Horton Hears A Who. Ethan has never been to the movie theater before so I was really interested to see how he'd do. My mom and I were prepared to leave if E got wiggly, but we wanted to at least give it a shot. So we took him in and sat him in the booster seat just as the previews were starting. I handed him his snack and he just sat there, totally frozen. I think he was kind of scared of the previews since it was dark and really loud, but once the movie got started he wasn't so scared. He just sat there, holding his unopened snack, motionless for seriously 45 minutes. He didn't sit back in his chair, he didn't ask to open his snack, he just sat there. Eventually he came back to reality, but he was so good to sit in his chair or sit in my lap and watch. I think my mom and I had more fun watching him and laughing! Now he asks me all the time to watch "Elephant" so we may have to go again sometime.

Above and Beyond

The other day I got an e-mail from the PR rep for Karen Neuburger, the company that I won the Mouse PJ's from. She had read my blog post about how E thought the PJ's were for him and he was really sad when he found out they were for Mom. Well, she offered to send a pair of matching PJ's just for E! I couldn't believe it! Well, the package came the other day during E's nap so I let him open his package when he woke up. He was so thrilled to have his own pair of "mouse jamas"!!! Well, when I pulled everything out of the package, there was an extra set of really small PJ's that were in there. When I read the card, she said that she wanted to send E a pair, but also one for our "upcoming arrival"!!! I was totally overcome with her kindness and I was amazed that they would want to do something so fun for our little family. It totally made my day! I LOVE the pair that I won and I wear them all the time. They are so comfy and cute and they've helped keep me comfortable during my sick weeks of pregnancy. I just wanted to thank Daisy so much for thinking of us and for making our day! I am so excited for all of us to be able to wear our matching PJ's together! Thanks Daisy!!!!

A Week of Weather Extremes

Texas weather is certainly unpredictable and we've gotten a couple bouts of crazy weather lately. Back on the 13th we got a crazy snowstorm that tore through the area. In the end we ended up getting about 7 inches of snow and all the schools were dismissed early and traffic was crazy. It is a pretty rare thing to get a large accumulation of snow here so this was all over the news all evening long.
This is a view from our front door. And this is a view of our backyard and my poor garden. My Rosemary and Parsley stayed strong and stuck it through the snow. E and I went out and played in it after his nap and he helped me make a huge snowman. We came in and had "chocolate soup" aka hot chocolate and enjoyed being cozy in our nice, warm house.

Well, just this past week we've been enjoying 70-90 degree weather! We go from 7 inches of snow to 90 degrees! What in the world! On Saturday, E and I headed out to the "tool store" (Lowe's) to pick up all the gardening items that I needed to plant my garden. This year I dug out 1 of my Rosemary plants and 1 of my Parsley plants since they are both huge and taking up way too much room. We got 2 strawberry plants, 2 Roma tomato plants, 2 basil plants, and then a package of cucumber seeds and green onion seeds. So I planted all that on Saturday so we'll see how my garden goes this year. I still want to get a couple of Cilantro plants since I used that a ton last year.


Now today we're expecting 3+ inches of rain and tornado watches throughout the day and for tonight. Gotta love Texas!

Family Home Evening

I know I've been a terrible blogger! My dad warned me the other day that I'm going to lose my readers if I don't post anything (I hope he doesn't mean him). So I'm going to try to do better. Things have just been kind of hectic with me barely functioning and still having a big load with Young Womens to carry. I have been totally spoiled with my hubby not traveling. Can I just tell you how nice it is??!! Starting back in June all the way to December my husband traveled at least 3 days a week, if not more and it was just me and E all the time. Now he's home and it is soooooo nice! I knew it was hard when he traveled and when you're in the moment you just deal with it, but now I realize how hard it was. I know he'll eventually have to travel again, but with me being so sick I just need him right now! So anyway...enough rambling. For Family Home Evening, Ry constructed "The Armor of God" for E out of a diaper box and E just loved it! Here are some pictures of him putting it to the test.

It's Snowing!!!

This is a very weird and rare event here in Texas, but it snowed tonight! Crazy! The weather has been so weird in the past 24 hours! Last night it was around 72 before we went to bed and we had a severe thunderstorm watch and tornado watch throughout the night. The storms came it and it was raining so bad last night, I didn't sleep much. It gradually got cooler and cooler throughout the day and then on my way to the grocery store tonight it was 33 degrees and snowing! What the heck! By the time I got home our whole lawn was covered so E and Ry came out and made a mini snowman. I almost felt like I was back home in Ohio...almost. At least here in Texas it will melt and be done within a few hours and we won't have to snow blow 10 inches off our driveway and have -15 degree weather. Just look at Ethan's face full of anticipation to go play in the snow! He was so excited!


The "Mini Snowman"

The Proud "Mini Snowman" Makers...aren't they so cute?!

North Town YMCA 50th

Friday night Ry and I had my mom come up and watch E for us while we headed downtown for a great celebration. Ryan's grandfather ("Papa" as we like to call him) started the North Town branch of the YMCA 50 years ago by simply setting up a trampoline in a Baptist church parking lot. With a lot of work, organization, and great families it has become one of the largest branches of the YMCA in the area. So the YMCA held a big event at the flight museum to celebrate the past 50 years and the 4 directors that have gotten them this far. It was so much fun! All of Ry's family and extended family were there, tons of great food, great entertainment and dancing, and of course to see how all of Papa's hard work has made the Y a great place for families. I had to get a picture with the Austin Powers guy, he was so funny! Back in high school everyone thought I looked like the girl from Austin Powers 2, Heather Graham so I had to get a picture.
This my sister-in-law, Amy and me enjoying some great chips and salsa...surprise, surprise.
Papa and GrandmaK, they are so cute and so fun! Congratulations Papa!!!
Papa with some of his grandkids/spouses

I was feeling really good that night so I was able to eat and dance, but I think I used up every ounce of energy that I had! I just crashed on Saturday and now I think I have a sinus infection or the flu, I can't tell. I just feel so crappy! Everytime I cough, I feel like I want to throw up since my gag reflex is so sensitive. I can't take anything for it since I'm pregnant so I'm left here to suffer and try to take care of my 2 year old. Yeah, it's been pretty rough, but I think it would be worse if I had a newborn and a 2 year old and be sick. I'll count my blessings. Although it would be nice to not have morning sickness and the flu at the same time. Anyway...I'm 10 weeks this week so I'm getting closer and closer to ending the morning sickness.
P.S. My sister in law Molly is having a giveaway-a-day for the next 2 weeks and I'm hearing that she has some great baby stuff up for grabs. I'm in!

Feeling Better

Well, E's mysterious illness left as quick as it came. He was feeling better by about 9 o'clock that morning. I could tell when he tried to snatch the lotion bottle off the bathroom counter. The minute he's in mischief, he's fine. So he had Kix, chex, pretzels, and Popsicles all day and never threw up. He woke up this morning happy as a clam and of course started the day running around. We made cookies this morning for Ry's home teaching families and played "smell the spices" game. He loves to try all the different smells in my spice cupboard. They are way too strong for me these days, but it keeps him occupied pretty well. I'll post a picture later.

Yucky!

Amanda, I'm feeling your pain from your sick days with P! Ethan woke up this morning really cranky and upset. He just wanted to lay by me in the bed (which never happens). Ry had me come check his bed since there were a couple wet spots so I looked at it and it looked like he had coughed up a bunch of mucus and it was all over his bed. Gross! So I stripped his bed and started washing it. I got back into my bed and Ry left for work. Then as I was getting comfy, E threw up all over my bed! Gross! Ethan has only thrown up once in his life and that was back when we went to Orlando so this is something kind of new for us. So I stripped him and stuck him in the tub and then stripped my bed and stuck it the the laundry room since I was already washing his bed. He's thrown up about 4 times now and he has a fever of 101.5 and the whole time I am gagging and dry heaving. Doesn't my day sound like so much fun! I'm finally on my last load in the dryer so I can make up my bed and fold his clothes. I think he's starting to feel a little better after I gave him some Motrin. He ate 2 Popsicles and a cup of Kix and that has stayed down so far. Wish me luck! I still have to get my activity together for Young Womens tonight. Happy 9 weeks to me!

And Baby Makes 3...

...but one more makes 4!!!! That's right, we've got a little one on the way! We're very excited! I had a little "hiccup" (I guess you could say) on Thursday evening so things were a little scary, but after a couple days of blood work and some progesterone supplements, everything is okay. I had my first prenatal visit today and got to see our little one and see his/her little heart beating away. What a relief! We're measuring right on for a due date of October 2nd. It will be the week of birthdays in our little family since Ry's birthday is October 7th and mine is October 8th. Party city! I'm 8 weeks today and I'm feeling okay. I've had a couple of rough days, but when you've got such great family and friends to help out it doesn't seem so bad. I have been super tired and my nausea isn't too bad as long as I take my Vitamin B6 supplements (a little L&D trick for the morning sickness)and as long as I don't smell any crazy smells like the inside of the milk refrigerator at the grocery store, blah! Ry has stepped in a lot to help me out in the evenings since I'm pretty much spent by about 6 o'clock. I've already had some funny cravings like mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh fruit, and Thai food. It's funny how you'll be so sick and nothing sounds good and then all of a sudden you have to have potatoes. Maybe I'm just weird. So anyway...I'm just super excited for #2 and that everything is okay. I hope I'll be posting more often than I have, but don't count on it for another few weeks.

Happy Valentine's Day

Yesterday E and I made Valentine sugar cookies for the Young Women. E had a lot of fun and kept sneaking cookies and candy right from under my nose. Sneaky boy! Last night we had our Mia Maid class activity and we had a lot of fun. We did a night all about "LOVE" since it was Valentine's Day the very next day and we wanted to get into the Valentine's spirit. We found out about what our Love Language is, made loving Valentines for each girl, and had a Valentine's exchange like "back in the day." I think the girls had a lot of fun. I just love laughing with them, they can be so funny.

My Buddy and Me

Do you remember that commercial from the 80's? Well, E has a "buddy" of his own at my mom's house. It's a 3 feet tall Pink Panther! One of the lovely extras for working at Owens Corning(my dad worked there before they moved to Texas). E just loves the Pink Panther whenever we go to "Nanny's" house. He'll set up a chair for him to sit it, he'll wrestle him, pretend to be the mailman and send him letters, and he loves for me to chase him with it. He loves that it's a life size toy just for him. It's really funny to see him interact with the Pink Panther and what he does. He does some of the funniest things. His imagination is getting to be really fun these days so here are some pics of E and his "buddy."

"Monsners"

That is what E calls monsters these days. It seems like monsters are everywhere these days in his little world. They are in his closet, in the dark bathroom, under his bed, outside, everywhere. He constantly wants me to go everywhere to check out the monsters and get rid of them before he can play. We even got him an inflatable sword at Peter Piper one afternoon so he could ward off his little monsters. Here is a picture of E cowering in the corner with all his blankets and his inflatable sword.

Really Fun PJs

I won a pair of Karen Neuburger the other day over at Classy Mommy. They gave away 2 pairs of PJs every week for 7 weeks and I was one of the lucky winners! It's so sad when the UPS man comes by and knocks on our door and Ethan automatically thinks it's a fun toy that I won for him so he runs through the house saying, "Open it, Open it!" He thought the PJs were for him and he was kind of confused when I had them on that night. He kept wanting to put them on. Sorry, bud. Anyway...they are so comfy and I just think they're so fun. Well, I think I'm going to take a little break from the blog contesting for awhile. It's really fun to do and really fun to win, but it's getting to be a little much these days. So I think I'll check out my sites and only enter the contests that I really really want. I used to enter just about anything and everything and it was kind of time consuming (who doesn't love free stuff if all it takes is a little comment here or there). Now I find myself checking my e-mail a couple times a day just to see if I won something and it's driving me crazy. I don't want this to turn into a bad habit so I'm limiting myself and taking a break. I'm sure I'll go on a dry spell for awhile, but that's okay. So good luck to all of you in the contesting world, I'll probably be back eventually.

Cute Baby Shower Gift

My friend Chesney had her baby shower today so my friend Kaitlyn and I were hard at work this week making Chesney the best diaper cake around! I think it turned out really cute and it ended up being pretty easy to make. What do you think?

The Ark

I can't believe I forgot to write about this one! I guess I don't remember to download my purse camera very often so things get left in the vortex of the purse. Last week my mom got VIP tickets to go see The Ark at the Artisan Theater. The Ark is a Broadway musical that was written by Michael Mclean and it's a fabulous play to watch! My mom and dad had both seen it before, but when the tickets came up they found out that Michael Mclean was actually going to be there so how can you pass that up?!!! My mom offered to watch E for me since Ry was out of town and my dad and I went to see it. It was great! I even got to meet Michael Mclean and get a little autograph on my CD so that was super exciting. Basically the play is about Noah and the Ark and the members so the audience are the animals watching what's going on in the ark. There's tons of great music and the actors were fun to watch, I was totally cracking up. So all in all it was a very fun and entertaining night!

Brighter Vision

Thanks to the educational guru, Hilary, she led me to a great find. I was wanting to get some good learning activities to do with Ethan and she suggested that I try out Brighter Vision. Basically they send out a monthly package filled with fun things to do with your children and to help them learn in fun ways. We get a hard cover children's book, a workbook, stickers, sing along CD, and an activity. Each month has a theme and this month was "Let's Eat" so along with this theme, Ethan got a pretend pizza.


It was hilarious to watch him do all sorts of things with his pizza. It was divided into 6 pieces so he counted them, put them in the pan, used the server to give me a piece, he pretended they were hot, he took them to Ry and had him eat them, he pretended to cook them in his make shift oven, he flipped them on his server, and he even made up his own game. We honestly played with this pretend pizza for an hour and he was totally loving it! He even got into my pot holder drawer and pretended to be like mom when she gets things out of the oven. Anyway, I highly recommend Brighter Vision, you get a lot of bang for your buck. Plus the first set is free so you can try it out and cancel if you want and keep the stuff you got. But I bet if you try it out, you'll want to continue. It's a great bonding moment to do these together and watch your child learn and grow. Go check it out!

President Hinckley

I know everyone has already posted about President Hinckley passing away last night, but I'm posting this for my blog book. President Hinckley is pretty much the prophet that I grew up hearing from for just about all my youth and into adulthood. I loved his sense of humor and how straightforward he could be. He always had a fun way to put things. He also helped me to see (along with my parent's guidance of course) that I could do anything that I set my mind to. I remember sitting in the General Young Womens conference during my senior year of high school and I was preparing to leave for BYU and start my endeavors to become a nurse. As I was sitting in that meeting he happened to say this,

The whole gamut of human endeavor is now open to women. There is not anything that you cannot do if you will set your mind to it. You can include in the dream of the woman you would like to be a picture of one qualified to serve society and make a significant contribution to the world of which she will be a part.

I was in the hospital the other day for a few hours. I became acquainted with my very cheerful and expert nurse. She is the kind of woman of whom you girls could dream. When she was young she decided she wished to be a nurse. She received the necessary education to qualify for the highest rank in the field. She worked at her vocation and became expert at it. She decided she wanted to serve a mission and did so. She married. She has three children. She works now as little or as much as she wishes. There is such a demand for people with her skills that she can do almost anything she pleases. She serves in the Church. She has a good marriage. She has a good life. She is the kind of woman of whom you might dream as you look to the future.

I just remember how wonderful I felt about the decisions I was making and that I was making the right choice that would lead me to happiness. President Hinckley will be missed, but I am so happy for his wonderful reunion with his wife.

Jewelry Giveaway

I know many of you are intrigued by giveaways so here's one for a beautiful piece of jewelry!!!

Teresa is running her first contest of the year over at her personal blog. You have a chance to win a win a beautiful turqoise bracelet created by Lori Jaclyn. She’s willing to ship anywhere and that means anyone is eligible to participate and win.

Good luck!

Check Out My New Header

Thanks to my cousin Toni for putting this header together and my wonderful friend Carly for helping me actually get it up there. It was a process!!! I just love the pictures that Toni did for our family back in November so I had to have them on my blog.

Target Is Back On My Good List

Some of you may remember about the "incident" back in October that happened with my dresser and a pair of Target's Halloween socks. Basically the treads ate holes in the top of my dresser. After filing a few reports and talking to a few representatives, I just got my check to get the dresser refinished and the refinishing company came and picked up the dresser just the other day. Hooray! It's not fun to be living without a dresser, but if I don't have to pay for it to be refinished then I can live with anything. Thank you Target, I will be going back soon.